Rick Owens / Spring 2013 RTW

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“I wanted there to be a warmth and a softness and, if possible, a kindness,” said Rick Owens backstage after showing his heavenly spring collection. “I don’t know if all of that came through, but that was the intention.” It all absolutely came through and was channeled via airy, voluminous, ethereal clothes. Whereas sometimes a Rick Owens show can read aggressive—and he’s the first to admit it; see also last season’s incendiary presentation—spring carried none of the ferocious hallmarks. It was noticeably gentler and all the more enjoyable.

Owens started off with blousy, airy, strapless tunics in pale gray and sand with elastic at the top and bottom. They were worn over his pillar skirts (straight and narrow pieces of fabric, expertly draped) done in diaphanous, palest-pink silks and chiffons so delicate they barely skimmed the models’ legs. Later on, those tunics got longer and fuller so that eventually they hit the floor and made a big bell shape. But then Owens reined everything back in and showed a little sportswear, if the droopy shorts Owens’s followers love could be categorized as such, and what looked like a boxy latex rain jacket.

The pillar silhouette continued with constrained but still lightweight dresses, tops, shorts, or any combination thereof layered underneath sheer vests that were best when fastened at the neck with hammered gold medallions. But what was most interesting here is what could only be referred to as Rick Owens’s take on evening, which included that same pillar skirt in white, covered in tiny, slim feathers and worn with a boxy white leather top peppered with small white knots or, alternately, a feathered piece fitted tight to the body, like armor, but also quite womanly. The same idea—pillar skirt, square top—was also rendered in a fluid, metallic material that fell like liquid silver. Take away the frizzy, flying-saucer hair (Owens called it “a little bit of Klimt, a little bit of Willy Wonka, and a little bit of Bozo”) and these were eminently wearable dresses that could be worn by all ages and body types and on any occasion.